


The "Tired Card"

by witchymarvelspacecase



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-24 12:02:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13213338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/witchymarvelspacecase/pseuds/witchymarvelspacecase
Summary: Excuses work most of the time, but what happens when one of your teammates call you out?





	The "Tired Card"

The “tired card” worked on everyone. 

You were missing out on team bonding night. The others had decided to go out to a bar, and you were in  _ no _ shape to handle it. 

“I’m okay, just tired”

Sure, you’d just gotten off a long mission, but you’d been doing nothing but sleep for the past two days. Or at last that’s what everyone  _ thought _ . But no one asked any questions. Bucky raised an eyebrow, but after a small smile from you and a promise to get some rest, he left with the others. 

You  _ were _ tired, but it wasn’t the kind of tired that a solid 8 hours would fix. The mission had been undercover, and although you hadn’t seen much combat, you’d heard more than you’d expected. More things about  _ yourself  _ than you’d expected, and you were not processing it well. 

So you played it off, said you were tired, and your teammates left you to your own devices. Or so you thought. 

The tired card worked on everyone,  _ except _ Tony Stark. 

“Ok, princess, what’s going on?” Tony asked as he barged into your room. You were sitting on your bed, a pillow in your lap, and your head hung. 

“I’m just tired, Tony, really.”

“Bullshit. You’ve been in your room since you got back, so if you’re ‘tired’ you must not have been sleeping,” Tony stated as he crossed the room to stand in front of you, arms crossed, “so spill.”

You shook your head, not looking up for fear you may cry, “It’s nothing you can fix, Tony. I just need to…”

“If you say ‘rest’, I swear I’ll sick Wanda on you!”

You hiccuped a little laugh, and sniffled. Tony knelt down so he could catch your eyes before continuing, “What’s going on in that pretty head of yours, Y/N?”`

You thought about brushing him off, for about half a second; Tony would give in eventually, especially if you managed to distract him, but you were just… done.

“I don’t even know, Tony. It’s like there’s too much and not enough at the same time. I really  _ am  _ tired, but it doesn’t go away,” you thought you felt tears in the corners of your eyes, but you kept talking anyway, “I don’t do anything, I don’t have the  _ energy _ to do anything, but I just get more and more tired.”

“Why haven’t you said anything, sweetheart?” Tony had moved closer, now resting a hand on your knee.

“I don’t know. Everyone has so much to do, so much of their own crap to handle. I  _ know _ everyone would help me if I asked, but I don’t want to bother anyone.” You squeezed your eyes shut, not wanting to see the judgement you feared would be on Tony’s face.

“You’re not a bother, Y/N. You know that.”

“But I don’t. I mean I do, but… It’s like, it’s like I forget that. Or more like I don’t want anyone to worry about me. I can handle this, it’s happened before.”

“It has?” Tony looked affronted; you shrugged, eyes still closed, not noticing his distress.

“Yeah, every once in awhile. It’s not that big of a deal.” Tony’s brow furrowed. He stood up and moved to sit beside you on the bed. 

“You remember last New Years? I threw that party?”

“You’ve thrown more than a few parties, Tony. You’re gonna need to be more specific.”

“The fireworks display I’d designed wouldn’t work, I spent almost the whole party in the lab.”

“I remember. I went to check on you.” 

_ You’d noticed Tony’s absence, everyone had, but you’d noticed long before his usual speech. Normally, Tony was the last one into the party, but he did make sure to get around the whole room, he’d talk to everyone, but he was nowhere to be seen. So you’d gone looking for him. _

_ When you’d finally made it to the lab, you found him. The lab had looked a mess, powders and chemicals everywhere but it wasn’t until you made it to the far corner of the room that you spotted Tony. He was on the floor, on his knees, with his head in his hands. He was dressed for the party; wearing his suit pants, with his dress shirt on, the sleeves rolled up past his elbows, and his suit jacket thrown off to the side. When you made your way over to him, you could hear muffled words, but none of them made sense. _

_ “Tony?” you called softy, crouching in front of him, thankful you’d chosen to wear pants for the evening. He didn’t respond until you touched his shoulder, his head snapping up to show a blotchy face and red-rimmed eyes. _

_ “Tony, what’s wrong?” _

_ “I… uh it’s nothing.” He pushed himself back onto his heels, just enough to break away from your touch, and scrubbed his hands over his face before standing. He turned and started to walk away but you’d stood as well, stepping in front of him to block his exit. He expected you to talk, to try and get him to open up, but you just wrapped your arms around him. _

_ “You don’t have to tell me what’s going on Tony, I understand, but I’m gonna do this until you’re feeling more like yourself, okay?” You didn’t say anything else, just rested your head on his chest, about where the scars from the arc reactor were. Tony could have easily brushed you off were you to try to talk to him, but this? He had no defense for this.  _

_ He broke. His arms wrapped around you and he held you tightly, small sobs slipping from his lips. The two of you shifted slightly, Tony’s head now resting on your shoulder, your hands running through his hair. You both stood there, in his disaster of a lab, for several minutes, it could have been an hour, neither of you cared. Eventually Tony pulled back, but not far. He pressed his forehead to yours for a moment before speaking. _

_ “Thank you.” _

_ “Always. I’m here for you, Tony. You don’t have to hide and handle this on your own. Next time.” you brushed the tears from his cheeks and smiled, “come find me. Okay?” _

_Tony just nodded. A little while later the two of you eventually made it to the party._ ** _No_** **_one_** _noticed the lack of fireworks, they were all too busy drinking Tony’s expensive liquor._

“I couldn’t get the fireworks to work like I wanted. It wasn’t that big of a deal, I  _ could _ have fixed it, but I just, I couldn’t get my head, I couldn’t get my  _ mind _ to calm down. There was too much going through my head, I couldn’t sit still. I couldn’t focus. I got so  _ frustrated _ . It wasn’t that big of a deal, but I couldn’t control it. I freaked out. Felt like a fucking mess; a failure.” 

“Failure” was a sensitive word for Tony. His dad, Stane, even Pepper before she left; they accused him of failing a lot. He carried the weight of those “failures” on his shoulders. Ultron, Wanda and Pietro’s family, Pietro, the fight with Cap. They were all failures on his part. They fell  _ only _ on his shoulders, and he didn’t think he could ever atone for them. Tony carried a lot of shame, and didn’t show it, he wouldn’t. Another result of his father.

“You’re  _ not _ a failure, Tony,” you said, finally looking at him. Your eyes were red; you hadn’t yet cried, but the tears cling to your lashes.

Tony shrugged, “That may be true, doesn’t stop me from feeling it; being crushed by it. Just like you’re not a bother. Doesn’t stop you from feeling like you are. So all I can do, is keep proving to you that you’re not. Just like you do for me.” Tony moved so that his back was against the headboard of your bed and pulled you with him. Now you were sitting between his legs, your back to his chest, your pillow still held in your arms.

“FRIDAY? Put on the last episode of  _ M*A*S*H _ that Y/N watched.” Tony requested, and the AI responded as Tony settled you more comfortably and pulled a throw blanket over your legs.

“But you said you don’t like  _ M*A*S*H _ ,” you said quietly, turning to look at Tony, a little thrown off by his behavior.

“Never really watched it before, but you like it.” You looked at him still, now slightly confused. “You were talking to Sam and Bucky about it a little while ago. Said it always made you feel like you were at home.”

You hadn’t known Tony was listening. You’d just been giving the two soldiers t.v. show suggestions. _ M*A*S*H _ was one of your favorites. You’d watched it with your parents, back before everything got weird. The tears slipped past your lashes then. You weren’t so much sad, but your heart was squeezing. Love; that’s what you felt.

You nuzzled into Tony’s chest. A few episodes in, Tony had to admit that the show was pretty okay, and you would take that as high praise.

Really, Tony was just happy to see you smile. You laughed at the jokes, and explained the characters to him, telling him their backstories. The more you watched, the more like yourself you seemed. He noticed the spark returning to your eyes.

He hadn’t noticed that he’d been staring though.

“Tony?”

“Hmm?”

“You would probably understand the show better if you spent more time watching the screen than me.” You hadn’t even turned your head, but you could feel his eyes on you. He cleared his throat and you laughed before looking back at him. There was a light blush, high on his cheeks. You laughed more before pressing a kiss to his jaw.

Tony froze, but only for a moment before pressing one to your temple in return. When you giggled, he pressed another to your nose, then your cheek, finally he pressed a chaste kiss to your lips. That cut off your laughter, but not your smile, and it certainly didn’t stop you from kissing him back. Several times.


End file.
